MUMBAI: An Egyptian believed to be the world’s heaviest woman will fly to India for weight reduction surgery Saturday after intervention from the country’s foreign minister ensured her a visa.
Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty, aged 36 and weighing around 500 kg (1,100-pounds), is slated to arrive in India’s financial capital Mumbai in the early hours of Saturday, Muffazal Lakdawala, her doctor, said in a statement.
She will be flown on a especially modified Airbus and will be taken to Mumbai’s Saifee Hospital upon arrival, the statement said. “To prepare her for the flight, a team of doctors has been in Egypt for the last 10 days to optimize the conditions for her travel,” the statement said.
Abd El Aty’s sister had approached Lakdawala in October saying her sibling needed urgent medical attention.
Her family told the doctor that as a child she was diagnosed with elephantiasis, a condition that causes the limbs and other body parts to swell, leaving her almost immobile.
She later suffered a stroke and was rendered bedridden, triggering a series of ailments including diabetes, high blood pressure, hypertension and sleep apnoea.
After hearing about her case Lakdawala had offered to carry out the procedure free of charge.
Her request for a visa was initially rejected, prompting Lakdawala in December to tweet a request for help to India’s Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj.
At the time Swaraj was in hospital awaiting a kidney transplant but was quick to respond with an offer of help.
Abd El Aty has had a long wait as no airliners were previously willing to fly her from Egypt to India owing to her health complications.
“Transporting Eman to Mumbai is a challenging task keeping in mind the complexities of her case as she is a high-risk patient who has not been able to move or leave the house for the past 25 years,” the surgeon said.
If Abd El Aty’s weight claims are proven medically, she will beat Pauline Potter (643 pounds) from the US to become the world’s heaviest woman alive.
Bariatric surgery is essentially a stomach-shrinking bypass procedure carried out on those wanting to lose excessive weight. It is increasingly common in India, which has a growing problem with obesity, particularly in urban areas.
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Egyptian woman, world’s heaviest, to be biggest yet happiest loser after India op
Egyptian woman, world’s heaviest, to be biggest yet happiest loser after India op
Greta Thunberg released from custody after arrest at UK pro-Palestinian protest
LONDON: Swedish activist Greta Thunberg was released from custody after being arrested on Tuesday in London at a pro-Palestinian protest, police said.
UK-based campaign group Prisoners for Palestine said Thunberg was earlier arrested under the Terrorism Act for holding a sign that said “I support the Palestine Action prisoners. I oppose genocide.” The British government has proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist group.
City of London Police said Thunberg had been bailed until March.
Police said earlier two other people had been arrested for throwing red paint at a building. A spokesperson said 22-year-old woman later attended the scene and was arrested for displaying a placard in support of a proscribed organization.
Prisoners for Palestine, which supports some detained activists who have gone on hunger strike, said the building had been targeted because it was used by an insurance firm which they said provided services to the British arm of Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems.
The insurance company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thunberg, 22, became prominent after staging weekly climate protests in front of the Swedish parliament in 2018.
Last year, she was cleared of a public order offense in Britain as a judge ruled police had no power to arrest her and others at a protest in London the year before.
She was detained along with 478 people and expelled by Israel in October after joining an activist convoy of vessels, the Global Sumud Flotilla, that attempted to reach Gaza with aid supplies. Israel has consistently denied genocide allegations.
UK-based campaign group Prisoners for Palestine said Thunberg was earlier arrested under the Terrorism Act for holding a sign that said “I support the Palestine Action prisoners. I oppose genocide.” The British government has proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist group.
City of London Police said Thunberg had been bailed until March.
Police said earlier two other people had been arrested for throwing red paint at a building. A spokesperson said 22-year-old woman later attended the scene and was arrested for displaying a placard in support of a proscribed organization.
Prisoners for Palestine, which supports some detained activists who have gone on hunger strike, said the building had been targeted because it was used by an insurance firm which they said provided services to the British arm of Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems.
The insurance company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thunberg, 22, became prominent after staging weekly climate protests in front of the Swedish parliament in 2018.
Last year, she was cleared of a public order offense in Britain as a judge ruled police had no power to arrest her and others at a protest in London the year before.
She was detained along with 478 people and expelled by Israel in October after joining an activist convoy of vessels, the Global Sumud Flotilla, that attempted to reach Gaza with aid supplies. Israel has consistently denied genocide allegations.
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